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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1976-03-04, Page 5Times-Advocate, March 4, 1976 p rt EXETER'S HELLS ANGELS? Not too likely, but these fellow are probably just as proud of their "hogs" as the real motorcyclists are, Ralph Bremner, in front, and from left to right in the rear, Dan Preszcator, Bob McDonald, Doug Hoffman and Steve Pearce took advantage of the earm sunny weather Saturday to do some bicycling. photo by Youngs Here's A Healthy Saving On SUPER 1.4 PLENAMI NS 144 TabletS With 72 Free $ 98 $AVE $4.00 144 Tablets With 36 Free $ 99 T.. $AVE $2/9 • 288 Tablets With 144 Free $AVE $8.99 72 Tablets With 18 Free SAVE $1.49 1499 '499 EXETER PHARMACY LIMITED 373 Main St, ' Phone 235-1570 • A 4 A I LOTS OF ICE — had to be scraped off the streets Tuesday morning when this area was hit with a sleet and ice storm. Above, Kim Hunt and Dianne Van Bergen get rid of the treacherous stuff in front of Chainway Store. T-A photo . • . . e • ;•,M Fr4. 8 TRACK & CASSETTE TAPES EACH LP's 4,44 SWEET EAGLES Give Us A Wink Their Greatest Hits Capitol Warner Brothers BAY CITY ROLLERS AMERICA Featuring History— Saturday Night Their Greatest Hits Arista Warner Brother8 ID IT'S HERE! THE COMPLETE MUNTZ TAPE CATALOGUE . , . AT YOUR FINGERTIPS! It can be Cassette, 8 Track or Quad. It can be Country, Easy Listening, Hard Rock or Classical. Whatever it is — Come in and find it the easy way! Over 16,000 Titles! 8 TRACK EXCITEMEN STEVE MILLER BAND The Joker GRAND FUNK Shinin On CHICAGO Greatest Hits Columbia DON TAYLOR ClIARGEX 1111111111111111111111111111[ MOTORS 235 1 100 EXETER •••••-i,-- • rle.7==.1M2MINZMEOME.'"'7•1:7 • • IP By JACK RIDDELL MP P Huron-Middlesex The Ontario Government's present programme of closing down hospitals and hospital beds — aimed at saving some $50 million from the Province's Health Budget—has generated a great deal of controversy, bit: terness and attention throughout Ontario. In our Riding, two in- stitutions have been slated for closure. First the Goderich Psychiatric Hospital was threatened with the Health Minister's axe. After con- siderable pressure from myself, Stuart Smith and other Opposition Members — not to mention public outcry — the government back-tracked on this decision to some extent, per- mitting at least part of the Goderich institution to continue as a psychiatric facility. Now, Clinton Hospital is, according to the Minister of Health, to be phased out of existence. This Cannot be permitted, and I am taking this opportunity to ask every one of you to make your feelings known in this matter . . . to write to the Premier, to the. Minister of Health, letting them know in no uncertain terms how you — the people concerned, the people affected — feel about this outrageous and irresponsible decision on the part of the Government. When hospitals are closed the hospital beds are taken out of service it is an admision of poor planning — atr admission that somehow we ended up with more hospital beds and facilities than required to service the surrounding community. It is our belief that in certain parts of the Farm group elects new ,directors. The following people have been elected as directors fur 1976-77 to the Stephen Township Federation of Agriculture: Ken Baker, Dash- wood; Simon Brand, Crediton; Dave Glavin, Centralia; Russ Jenner, Dashwood; Larry Jones, Crediton; Doug Lightfoot, Crediton; Glen Miller, Parkhill; Jim Morlock, Crediton; Jim Patterson, Grand Bend; Rodger Ratz, Dashwood. Federation resists .closing At a special directo-rs meeting held in Clinton on February 25 the Huron County Federation of Agriculture voted to put all their resources behind the move to resist closing of the Clinton Hospital. The Federation Directors feel that the presence of a hospital in a rural town contributes much to its economic viability and to the well-being of • its citizens — both urban and rural. The farm accident rate is one of the highest of any industry and the proximity of medical help can mean the difference between the loss or saving of an arm or a leg, said Adrian Vos, Federation President. With more than 2200 members in Huron County, the Federation represents a potential 10,000 hospital users. Hooting & Cooling • Heating Systems of All Types INSTALLED, MODERNIZED <>, and MAINTAINED • General Sheet Metal Work • Air Conditioning 7:1 • Humidifiers • Ventilation 235-2187 133 Huron St., East, Exeter g ..7nnininnutrunnunnonnoonnullionnia province we have too many beds, while in others there are too few. Clearly something must be done to equalize hospital facilities throughout Ontario to some extent. The problem cannot be solved by arbitrarily and un- feelingly closing down hospitals — selecting the victims with no real justification or reasonable explanation. By so doing, the Government is, apparently, unconcerned that they are removing vital health services from communities which may, as in the case of the people in the Clinton area, have to travel a great distance to a comparable medical facility. There seems to be no clear cut criteria or ob- jectives in the government's hospital closing programme — no standards which must be met, no community needs taken into consideration, Surely a more sensible approach to reducing hospital overheads would be to decrease the number of beds in the larger hospitals, and increase over-all hospital efficiency. For some years now, it has been evident that the Provincial Government has made no at- tempt to follow a clearly-defined or logical course for the development of an effective and progressive health care service for Ontario. Enormous amounts of money have been spent building hospitals and hiring doctors and support staff, No differentiation has been made between the efficient and the inefficient, to concentrate on quality rather than on quantity. In the case of Clinton, the Province has chosen to close down a hospital with the lowest average cost ,per patient. Average length of stay fpr patients is comparable with three other hospitals in the County and lower than a fourth. The generally low occupancy rate does indicate that there may well be too Many hospital beds in the County, but we believe that a reasonable approach would have been for the Government of Ontario to have sat down with representatives from all the hospitals in the area, to inform them that — as a result of poor planning in.the past — there are too many beds and the number must be reduced. It would then have been up to all the hospitals to decide amongst themselves how best to reduce beds and budgets. This would have been a more open and democratic procedure. Instead, the Minister of Health came marching into our small rural town with his group of advisers and handed the hospital administrator the death warrant for our hospital. The Government must realize also that a hospital becomes an integral and vital part of a community — the place where people train and work, People move into communities because of a hospital: lives are organized with the local hospital as a focal point. You cannot close down hospitals in a haphazard fashion, making no provision for present or future patients, or for those who have chosen a specific hospital as the centre of their professional lives. The Provincial Government has absolutely no right to sacrifice much needed hospital facilities in an effort to put the brakes on rapidly rising medicare costs. Any reduction in the Ministry of Health's budget must be carried out with every consideration being given to the prime importance of the needs of the community. In the Liberal Party we are presently preparing a major statement on health costs in general. This statement will attempt to give what we believe to be a rational and fair alter- native to the government's current unfair and unreasonable actions. It'Will deal with ways of measuring efficiency in hospitals, suggest methods of improving effectiveness. The question of laboratory use will also be examined,- as well as methods of reducing lab, ex- penses. We shall suggest means of ensuring that doctors exercise restraint in connection with tests which are ordered for patients and the utilization of medical facilities, Finally, we , shall discuss each one of the proposed hospital closings and our suggested alternatives in each case. Our paper will attempt to present a commonsense ap- proach to the question of health costs. Above all we are concerned — deeply concerned — with the impact of these major decisions on communities and people throughout Ontario, The Government's decisions have been announced outside the Legislature, and the elected representatives of the people have had no opportunity to debate them in the House, The fact that these announcements began the day after the Legislature adjourned can certainly not be put down to coincidence, and clearly in- dicates the attitude of the Government to the Legislature and the people of this Province, It is our strong belief that such important matters must be fully debated in the Legislature and I intend to raise questions in the House about Goderich and Clinton as soon as the House reconvenes on the 9th March, I have repeatedly asked for an appointment with the Premier to plead the case of Clinton Hospital, but at this point I have been unable to obtain a com- mitment from his office for such a meeting. I shall continue to pursue this matter, and hope that it will be possible to meet with the Premier before the House reconvenes. If not, I am seriously considering calling for an emergency debate. In this Riding we are all con- cerned about ,the future of Clinton. I personally am deter- mined to do everything possible to keep our hospital open, and once again I ask you to do your part — by informing the Provincial Government in no uncertain terms just how you feel about this important issue, • ADAMS BY URSULA REGIER On Tuesday evening Local 317 held another meeting with many topics on hand for discussion. Due to the severe weather con- ditions this winter, several Local and Executive meetings have had to be cancelled but many meetings went on schedule and amazingly members who I would expect could never make it, considering road conditions in their areas were there and on time too, just good interested farming people, On December 8 to the 12th, inclusive, was held our National Annual Convention in Edmonton, Alberta. Mr. and Mrs, poyd Willert and Mr. and Mrs, .Casey Inthout attended, retur- ' hing with a very favourable report, attendance as large or maybe e•even larger than last year. Many more younger far- mers attended, even the Youth Exchange participants took a heavy roll in the Convention activities, We are sending one Youth on N. F. U. executive report says much has been accomplished the Exchange this year, their expenses paid, but are still waiting for more name entries before we make the draw, the winner hopefully, will bring us back a good report on their trip and of the area culture where they will be staying, During the past year much work has been accomplished. Many demands for higher farm prices on all Comodities, such as milk, which has been an N.F.U. fighting issue for several years when we got the price con- siderably higher, when our quite impressive men, well versed in the Dairy Policy fought a 'hard lonely battle, now look at the Income and the Output. All farm grown products are the same, if we farmers could get half the price of a little bag of Navy Beans which, are sold in the stores, we would smile from ear to ear, Bread, butter, you name it, made out of cheap farm products and priced actually out of reach for the Consumer, Roy Atkinson attended the Federal Agricultural Outlook Conference, there he stated predictions indicate in 1976 farm income is forecast to drop 25 percent, while farm costs will continue to rise. In major areas of production, for example milk and beef cattle, Ottawa is calling for a cut back in production, In regard to hogs, farmers are asked to be careful not to in- crease production too much, only grain they ask a major ex- pansion. This tends to act within the federal anti-inflation policy. It is clear that the major attack on cost is deliberately focussed on the wages of workers and farm product prices, despite the fact government states farm gate prices are free of the guidelines. On the subject of federal government lack of effective control over inflation, controlling major resources dominated by multi-national corporations, of all the provinces, only Saskat- chewan seems to be taking ef- fective steps in this direction by its announced intention to take over Potash production and distribution, This action of course is being opposed by proponents of so-called free interprise. The N,F.U. statement to the Conference included a section on the depressed economic con- ditions for cow-calf operator's. Roy said there is no federal provision to protect cow-calf, contraction, the so-called free market is now exerting on our lei/els of beef production. As a consequence, cow-calf operator are forced to transfer a tremendous amount of wealth as represented by their consistant losses of the past year to sub- sidize cattle feeders and the public in general. That's not stability. It is ironic to observe that if this Conference was being held five years ago in the full flush of the Task Force Report "Agriculture in the Seventies" we would be told that never again would vie be able to fulfill the growing demand for beef — 500,000 feeders by 1980 were to be sold annually to the U.S.